Gulf states to expel Syrian ambassadors
Saudi Gazette - 08 February, 2012
http://gitm.kcorp.net/index.php?id=589522&news_type=Top&lang=en

The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have decided to expel Syria’s
envoys and withdraw their own from Damascus over the “mass slaughter” of
civilians in Syria, a joint statement said Tuesday.

“State members have decided to withdraw their ambassadors from Syria and ask
at the same time for all the ambassadors to the Syrian regime to leave
immediately,” a GCC statement said.

It said that there was “no point in them staying after the Syrian regime
rejected all attempts and aborted all honest Arab efforts to solve this
crisis and end the bloodshed.”

The statement condemned “mass slaughter against the unarmed Syrian people”
during the nearly 11-month crackdown by President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.

GCC states “follow with sorrow and anger, the increase in killing and
violence in Syria, which has not spared children, old people or women with
heinous acts that at best can be described as mass slaughter,” the statement
said.

The GCC urged other Arab states to use an Arab League meeting next week to
adopt “all decisive measures in response to this dangerous escalation
against the Syrian people.”

The Gulf states’ announcement came after France, Italy, and Spain said
Tuesday that they were following Britain and Belgium in bringing back their
envoys for consultations. The United States has closed its Damascus embassy
entirely.

King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, called on the
international community Monday to take steps to “protect innocent lives and
end the bloodshed” and warned that the violence threatened regional
stability. — Agencies